Photos and Video: Ice House Protest against Freeze

Yesha town councils protest that the Prime Minister's election promises are melting away.

By Hillel Fendel

First Publish: 1/4/2010, 11:22 AM

Yoni Kempinski

Mayors and town councils in Yesha refuse to come in from the cold as they continue their week-long sit-in outside the Prime Minister’s office. They are protesting the 10-month construction freeze declared on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria (Yesha).

Today’s main feature was an “ice house” at which they invite passersby to chip away, so as to “break the freeze.”

Today it was the turn of the Regional/Municipal Councils of Kiryat Arba, Beitar Illit, the Hevron Hills and Gush Etzion to staff the protest tent. The council offices are closed to the public, at least partially, for the coming days.

Knesset Members of the Israel Our Home party, a member of the government coalition, are expected to visit the protest tent and express solidarity with the anti-freeze cause.

Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, said, “This protest is another step in our comprehensive struggle, which we all know will be long and extensive and will take on different shapes and forms.” It is possible that all schools in Yesha will have to be closed as part of the public struggle against the freeze, Dayan said.

Protesting Racist PoliciesOn Sunday, some 200 people took part in the first part of the ongoing demonstration there. Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, said, “All the municipal employees have gathered here outside the Prime Minister’s Office to protest this racist order that forbids only Jews to build in their land. This is an order that contrasts with all elementary civil rights.”